Indian Prime minister Narendra Modi, center, along with Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, sixth right, Convener of North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) Himanta Bishwa Sarma, sixth left, and senior Bodo leaders wave to the gathering during an event to celebrate signing of a peace accord with the Bodo rebel group, National Democratic Front of Bodoland, in Kokrajhar, a town 250 kilometers (150 miles) west of Gauhati, India, Friday, Feb. 7, 2020. Modi said on Friday that his government will continue its peace push in insurgency-wracked northeast bordering China and Myanmar where signing of accords with key rebel groups led to surrender by thousands of fighters. The prime minister said decades of violent insurrection ended in the Bodo tribal heartland in Assam state following the signing of the Jan. 27 agreement by the government with the rebel group. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

India to continue rebel peace accord push in troubled areas

February 07, 2020 - 6:16 am

The Associated Press

GAUHATI, India (AP) — India’s prime minister said on Friday that his government will continue its peace push in the insurgency-wracked northeastern region bordering China and Myanmar where accords with key rebel groups have led to the surrender of thousands of fighters in recent weeks.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said decades of violent insurrection ended in the Bodo tribal heartland in Assam state following the signing of the January 27 agreement by the government with the rebel group, National Democratic Front of Bodoland.

He addressed hundreds of thousands of people, mostly Bodo tribespeople, on Friday in Kokrajhar, a town 250 kilometers (150 miles) west of Gauhati, the state capital, celebrating the signing of the peace accord.

They included several hundred rebels from the National Democratic Front of Bodoland who turned out in their olive-green fatigues after surrendering to government forces at a ceremony on January 30.

Leaders of the four factions that comprise the NDF welcomed the prime minister with traditional scarves on the dais, but they did not speak.

On Jan. 28, Gobinda Basumatary, one of the leaders who signed the accord, said that it would "bring peace after three decades. Since enough of autonomy is given to us as part of the accord, the demand for a separate Bodo state is no longer necessary."

On Thursday, the Bodo tribespeople lit up 70,000 oil lamps in their homes rejoicing in relief from long-simmering land and ethnic disputes in the region.

“I can understand your feelings when you decided to bid adieu to your guns, bombs and pistols and return to normal life. I will ensure that no thorn shall hurt you now in the road to peace,” Modi said.

The government plans to provide technical skills to those who surrendered to take up jobs in the near future.

Dozens of rebel groups have been fighting the government and sometimes each other for years in seven states in northeast India. They demand greater regional autonomy or independent homelands for the indigenous groups they represent.

The rebels accuse the federal government of exploiting the region’s rich mineral resources but neglecting the local people.

Modi told the rally on Friday that insurgency was on the wane in the northeast and his government was trying to reach similar deals with insurgent groups mainly in Nagaland and Manipur states.